Businessman Wicknell Chivayo says his “spirit is re-energized” after being acquitted together with his company Intratrek Zimbabwe and vowed that his focus was now “re-aligned towards fulfilling our obligations under the Gwanda Solar Project.” Magistrate Ngoni Nduna on Wednesday cleared Chivayo on allegations of bribing former Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) ex-board chairman Stanley Kazhanje US$10 000 to influence the award of the controversial Gwanda Solar Project. In acquitting him and his company, Nduna said the State had failed to prove that Kazhanje participated in the decision to award the tender. “The state is found to have failed to establish a prima facie case against both the accused persons. “They are both found not guilty and acquitt
A Zimbabwean court has upheld a traditional court’s ruling that the body of former President Robert Mugabe should be exhumed and reburied at a national shrine in the capital. HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — A Zimbabwean court Friday upheld a traditional court’s ruling that the body of former President Robert Mugabe should be exhumed and reburied at a national shrine in the capital. The Chinhoyi Magistrates Court rejected an appeal by Mugabe’s children that the traditional court's ruling should be ignored, Mugabe family lawyer Fungai Chimwamurombe said. The three children had challenged the exhumation ruling made by the traditional chief of the Zvimba area, Mugabe’s rural home. Mugabe's current grave in the Zvimba area is part of the chief’s jurisd
A 38-year-old woman from Gokwe has been arrested after she allegedly forced herself on and raped her 22-year-old neighbour. An apparently intimacy-famished Lucia Mandishara from Chirovamari village in Gokwe South was arrested for forcing herself on Standard Mugande She appeared at the Gokwe Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday to answer to the charges of forcing her 22-year-old neighbour to be intimate with her. Mandishara was denied bail by the magistrate and remanded in custody. The state alleges that Mandishara committed the offence on February 6, 2021. According to the state’s case, on the day of the crime, the 22-year-old went to Mandishara’s house at around 7 PM to collect some charcoal. At this point, Mandishara asked Mugande to lend her US$5. Mugande then tol
DURBAN – FROM a matric pupil to the elderly, more than 30 people have been killed during the ongoing protests and looting in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. On Tuesday morning, KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala said 26 people were killed in the province and this included people who died during stampedes when looting was taking place. Zikalala also said 187 people had been arrested in the province. In a statement, the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NatJOINTS) said as of 8pm, 489 people were arrested, 166 from KZN and 323 from Gauteng. “The NatJOINTS has intensified deployments in all the affected areas in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng and these will be augmented by the SAPS’s measures being put in place to call up operational members from leave and rest-d
A WOMAN struck her husband with a padlock on the head before thumping him all over the body with a stick several times after he asked her why she disrespected him by answering her boyfriend’s phone call in his presence. It is said on Monday this week at around 7pm while Prince Masuku (32) was sitting with his wife Dorothy Madumba (24) at their home, Dorothy’s boyfriend phoned asking where they could meet. Dorothy moved a few metres away from her husband and spoke for more than 10 minutes on the phone, the court heard. After she had finished talking to her alleged boyfriend, her suspicious husband asked her why she was disrespecting her by allowing her boyfriend to call her in his presence, the court heard. It seems that stoked Dorothy’s anger as she ran amok and
The Zimbabwe Republic Police has warned imbibers and merrymakers that drinking alcoholic beverages while inside cars and other vehicles is now illegal. This comes after the Minister of Health and Child Care, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga instituted another lockdown following a surge in Covid-19 infections and deaths across the country. Following the Vice President’s announcement of the revised Covid-19 lockdown measures, the Police announced that they will be enforcing the new lockdown measures “without fear or favour.” In a statement released on Monday, national police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said, “Patrols, blitz and monitoring will be done by Police to ensure that beer halls, bars and nightclubs remain closed. Bottle store o
A Guruve man is on the run after poisoning his girlfriend’s well and bucket of maize-meal after she greeted her ex-boyfriend. Seven family members- five minors and two adults- ate the meal prepared by the poisoned mealie-meal and fortunately, survived. Mashonaland Central Province police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Naison Ndliwayo confirmed the incident, which happened in Ng’andu village under Chief Bepura in Guruve.The complainant is Ms Nyarai Simbadaka (31) of Makumbe village in Guruve and the accused is her boyfriend, Tawanda Kupara. Asst Insp Ndliwayo said on May 28 at around 7am, the couple was at Simbadaka’s homestead when her ex-boyfriend passed-by and she greeted him. “This did not go down well with Kupara who threatened to kill his girlfrie
Commercial sex workers in Highfield have blasted their colleague who allegedly stabbed a client over the weekend. The hooker only identified as Christine from Cannan Mahobi suburb fatally stabbed a soldier at Saratoga club at night after a misunderstanding. “We are not happy with Christine she was not supposed to kill a client now our business is low clients are now afraid even the police are pouncing heavily on us, bar owners and our clients,” lamented Chiedza a hooker. Another sex worker by the name Tendai said: “No misunderstanding warrants murder in sex work this hooker has committed a serious offense and she should be prosecuted.” Meanwhile, bars were ordered to close due to Covid-19 pandemic but some were opening in violation of the country’
A fresh war has erupted over the burial of the late president Robert Mugabe with a Zvimba villager dragging the erstwhile strongman's widow Grace to a traditional court over the matter. Mugabe, who died in September 2019 aged 95, was buried at his Kutama homestead in Zvimba after Grace and her children rejected government's offer to have his remains interred at the National Heroes Acre in Harare. The Mugabe family said the long-serving ruler made it clear while on his deathbed that he did not want to be buried at the national shrine following a spectacular fallout with his ruling Zanu PF after a military coup that ousted in him in 2017. Tinos Manovengere is said to have approached Chief Zvimba seeking to have Grace censured amid revelations that some still want his r
A United Kingdom (UK) based Zimbabwean herbalist who killed a woman last year by giving her too much nicotine during a healing ritual, causing her “toxic trauma”, has been slapped with a two-year jail term. Lyndon Nindi traveled to Nottingham on the 16th of February last year to treat a UK-based Zimbabwean woman Sophia Jekecha’s stomach problems. reports that Nottingham Crown Court heard that the 49-year-old was following a “traditional” Zimbabwean system using tobacco in the form of snuff, causing her to collapse. Judge Gregory Dickinson QC said Nindi went beyond his “skill and understanding”. Nindi, of Kinross Drive in Newcastle, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter and administering a noxious substance. He was jailed for t
